Liquid Courage
by leiaah
Summary: The transition from severely tipsy to drunk was about to happen to Kiba, until a certain Ino stepped into the picture and dragged him out of the bar. Her interference brought on a revelation that they didn't see coming. Oneshot, Kiba/Ino.


**Title:** Liquid Courage

**Style:** Oneshot

**Characters:** Kiba, Ino, and an OC with two lines.

* * *

"Urgh," Kiba slammed the shot glass on the pub's counter threatening to shatter it, "fill'er up."

The bartender bit her lower lip, not really sure whether to lend an ear, or just do as he asked, then again she remembered that her job was to serve the customers and that's what she will do. The golden liquid filled up the small glass. With a shaky hand Kiba reached for it, and brought it to his lips. Some of it's contents spilled onto the counter joining the already formed pool of liquor.

"Bottoms up," Kiba toasted to no one in particular.

He threw back his head, some of the liquor dribbled down his chin. Again, he slammed the small glass on the counter, and rubbed his chin with the back of his hand.

"How fucking long, does it take to get drunk?" Kiba yelled to the pub in general.

"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to keep your voice down," the bartender hissed to Kiba.

Kiba lulled his head towards her, picked up his shot glass, and waved it under her nose, "fill'er up."

"Kiba," a sweet voice foreign to the pub's atmosphere chimed in, "you don't need this."

A hand came into his vision, taking the shot glass from his grasp, and putting it away. Kiba took a few whiffs of the air, it took him longer to register the faint smell of flowers and soil than it would usually take him if he were sober.

"Ino," he acknowledged her, drooping his head, and slowly sinking to the counter until he hit it with a light thud.

Ino turned to the bartender, "how much?"

"Oh, erm, a hundred and thirty-two Ryo."

Ino lifted her eyebrows and stared at Kiba. _Wow, that's some alcohol tolerance he's got if it's taken him that much to get to this stage only._ She opened her purse, pulled out the required money and handed it to the bartender.

"Come on, get up," Ino said in a strained voice, as she hauled Kiba's arm over her shoulders, and held a tight grip around his waist, heaving him up onto his feet.

"Sorry," Kiba mumbled as he staggered out the pub with Ino.

"It's ok," Ino said in a mock-cheerful tone, "anyway let's get you home."

"No! No, no, take me to a bench or something, I need fresh air."

"Okay, fine, didn't feel like calling it a night anyway."

Ino dragged Kiba to one of the small parks around Konoha and put him down in a small clearing. She dropped her purse on the ground, and settled herself facing Kiba. Kiba placed his elbows on his knees and held his temples, groaning queasily, as he stared at the grassy growth underneath him. He took big whiffs of the air, replacing the polluted air of cigarette smoke and pungent liquor that had filled his lungs, with the fresh air surrounding him.

"Ah! Fuck! My life's bullshit! Who the fuck goes out and gets drunk on a Tuesday night?" Kiba spoke loudly, and didn't hold back on the profanities.

"Apparently you do," Ino smiled laying a caring hand on his shoulder.

"Ino, you're such a fucking cock-blocker, you know that?" he said, looking up straight into her eyes.

Ino's brows furrowed at the sudden change of direction of the conversation.

"And, and, you relish in it."

"What are you talking about, Kiba?"

The air around Ino became heavy, she felt tense and very awkward. Of all the years she's known Kiba, and the recent years of their close friendship, she had always caught him drunk, and steered him away before he could cause damage to himself and/or others. Usually he'd be more drunk than this, his words wouldn't make sense. But today, she caught him in time, and he could speak just fine. The phrase, "drunk men tell no tales," came to mind as she sat and listened to Kiba.

"Like, what the fuck? I have awesome friends, a great family, a good life, but I feel like crap all the fucking time!"

"Why?"

"I just feel empty. Great on the surface, nothingness on the inside."

Ino bit her lower lip, she was slowly understanding why Kiba would feel like so. She bowed her head and stared at a patch of grass next to her knee.

"I mean, why would I feel empty, and have such a good life? How the fuck does that work?"

_I know how,_ Ino thought to herself and heaved a sigh as her eyes started to sting, she knew that meant tears. She balled her hands into fists and fought them back.

"Anyway, look at this!" Kiba pulled off his shirt and pointed at a long, fine, red line that was stretched across his chest. The cut was still raw and in the process of healing, surely it was going to scar.

Ino traced it with her finger, "how d'you get this?"

"Fucking last week's mission. Hinata and me were supposed to deliver this fucking package, to some asshole, so this prick ambushes us and slashes me with his fucking huge sword! That bastard got it good from Akamaru and Hinata."

Ino chuckled and absentmindedly gathered a wave of green chakra to her finger, and traced the scar once more, it paled slightly but was still visibly red, so she gathered more of the healing chakra until she reduced the redness to a pink tinge.

"There you go, should hurt less."

"Can't feel shit right now."

"Thought you wouldn't," and Ino laughed.

Kiba watched her throw her head back, her visible eye curved into a small crescent moon. Her laugh echoed in his ears. He stole a peak at hear body, her hands lightly carressed her stomach as she laughed, her legs stretched out in front of him. His eyes traced her body, and he couldn't hold back the comment that was to escape his mouth.

"You're fucking hot."

Ino's laughs subsided, until she was only grinning. She flipped some of her hair over her shoulder and couldn't help agreeing, "I can't argue with that."

"Ino, seriously, will I ever be good enough?"

"Good enough for what?"

"I don't think-- urgh--"

Kiba clutched his stomach, turned away from Ino and frantically crawled away from her. A few seconds later he purged all over the ground. Ino scrunched up her nose in disgust. She noticed how clear his vomit was, he obviously had been drinking on an empty stomach.

Kiba finished with a choked cough, a big sniff, and a groan. He turned back to Ino, and told her to get up, so they could sit away from the puke. The smell was too strong for Kiba to stay next to it, despite the fact that Ino couldn't smell it. He picked up his shirt from the ground and wiped his mouth with it. He looked perfectly grossed out.

Now, in their new seating place, Ino dug into her bag and pulled out a stick of fruit flavoured gum.

"Here, you most definitely need this," she stretched out her arm.

Kiba grabbed it from her and shoved it into his mouth, chewing hard before continuing where he left off.

"As I was saying, I need to go buy bag of soldier pills tomorrow."

"No, you were saying you'll never be good enough?" Ino looked encouragingly for him to carry on, she was curious.

"Yeah, yeah, and then I need to get my weapons sharpened, some of 'em are blunt."

"Urgh," Ino realised she had to sit and wait for him to remember, or at least jump to that point of the conversation once more.

"Oh fuck! Ino, I just remembered!" she nodded spurring him to go on, "my mum asked for some sunflower seeds, she wants to plant some in the garden, could you give me a bag tomorrow?"

"Urgh, fine. Sure. Good enough for what Kiba?" she tried again.

Alas, it was in vain, "fuck, I feel like shit now. Not like before, I mean physically. The fresh air is making me feel nauseous."

Ino sighed, "it's because it's replacing all that pub atmosphere in your lungs."

"No fucking shit."

Ino rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead to her palm, "go on."

Kiba lied back onto the ground and heaved a sigh of satisfaction, "much better, come lie next to me."

Ino obliged and positioned herself next to him, arms lightly touching. She gazed at the sky above, it wasn't a clear night at all. Cloudy and almost pitch black.

"Damn, that's a mean sky," Kiba commented.

"Probably gonna rain."

"It's summer."

"You can never predict summer rains, Kiba."

"Yeah, true. Ino, it's my birthday tomorrow."

"I know," Ino checked her watch, "it's already passed midnight! Well, what do you know? Happy twenty-second Birthday, Kiba!" Ino faced him and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"Never gonna be good enough," Kiba said with a low voice, and sat up giving Ino his back.

"For what, Kiba? Never gonna be good enough for what?"

"Tss, I'm never gonna be good enough for you."

"For me?" Ino sat up as well and tried to look at Kiba in the eye, but he turned away, "Kiba, look at me!"

Ino grabbed his chin and forced his face to her direction, he looked angry, angry and sad mixed together in a way that made Ino let go of his face and feel a pang of emotion in her chest. Kiba hurriedly stood up, rushed over to a neighbouring tree, and purged behind it. Ino pressed her lips to a thin line and ran up to Kiba. She fell onto her knees, and started to tug on his leg.

"The fuck you--" he threw up again.

As he struggled to fight against her, and the upcoming puke, she yanked off his boot and pulled off his sock. She gathered some of the healing chakra to her thumb and pressed on a point on the ball of his foot. Immediately he emptied his stomach, puking non-stop until he couldn't any more. When he finished, Ino pressed the same point for fewer seconds, and Kiba felt sudden relief, and totally sober.

Ino stood quickly went over to her bag that was on the ground where they were lying, pulled out a tissue and another stick of gum.

"Here," she handed them to Kiba.

"The hell was that all about?"

"What? No thanks?" Ino lifted her eyebrows and continued, "there are specific pressure points at the soles of our feet that are related to specific body parts and organs. With the right amount of pressure and the right amount of seconds, I can make you feel instant nausea, and instant relief," Ino finished with a smile.

"Wow... thanks."

"Don't mention it!" and she laughed.

Kiba rolled his eyes and made an audible sniff, and contorted his face in distaste.

"Yeah, let's get away from here, it stinks," Kiba placed his hand on the small of Ino's back, and lead them both to a bench on the outskirts of the park.

"Do you, by any chance, have some water with you?" Kiba asked whilst nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, for some reason I do," and she handed the small bottle to him.

Kiba downed the water in one go, wiped the excess dribble off his chin, and leaned back into the bench. Ino sat upright, sitting diagonally so that she could face Kiba with no problems.

"So will you continue?"

Kiba looked at her, chewing slowly on the gum. Ino noticed he looked bothered, so she was the one to continue.

"Kiba... what you were saying, I feel the same way. I mean, about having a great life, but feeling empty on the inside. I know what's missing, and I'm pretty sure you know too. It's... someone to care for. Those special feelings that are only for you, not for anyone else to share with. I know that because I want that too," Ino tentatively reached out for Kiba's hand and grasped it tightly, "whilst you thought that you'd never be good enough for me," Kiba looked away, and Ino continued, "I was thinking I'd never be good enough for you..."

Kiba's eyes widened as he registered what Ino had said, he sat up and faced her, gazing into her clear blue eyes.

"This is the best birthday present I've ever gotten."

With nothing more to say, Kiba leaned in and brushed his lips against Ino's. She was shocked for a second but then she was kissing him back. Ino pulled away, Kiba tried leaning in for more, but she slapped a hand over his mouth.

"You owe me a hundred and thirty-two Ryo in the form of dates, and anything else I want."

"Wha-va-ell-fo?" Ino grinned and uncovered Kiba's mouth, "what the hell for?"

"Your little drinking rampage cost me that much, and what a better way to spend that kind of money on a fine and sexy thing like me? You were gonna pay that much in the end anyway."

"One hundred, and thirty-two... Ryo?"

"I'm glad you know how to enunciate," Ino chuckled.

"Shut up." Kiba said jokingly.

He smiled and crashed his lips onto hers once more, and Ino laughed into it the kiss.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope I got them in-character! Especially Kiba. As for any queries about what happened, non-sober talk pretty much does look like this. People jump from topic to topic, without any real link. Anyhoo, reviews are appreciated, but not obligatory :D

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**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto... _but_ if I _did _it would be about Ino and Kiba's love lives together! :D


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